About us
The Centre for Forensic Behavioural Science provides academic and clinical excellence in forensic mental health research and practice. We bring together academics, clinicians, researchers and students from a variety of disciplines, including psychology, psychiatry, nursing, social work, law, occupational therapy and epidemiology.
Our research, consulting services and professional development and training programs have strengthened the field of forensic behavioural science in Australia and overseas.
Our mission is to create new knowledge through rigorous, clinically informed and service-oriented research that improves our understanding of people who are at risk of offending, people who are already justice involved, and people who are the victims of crime, as well as the systems responsible for their care and management.
We harness additional expertise through our affiliations and collaborations. In particular, we have a strong partnership with the Victorian Institute of Forensic Mental Health (Forensicare), serving as Forensicare’s research and training arm.
We also have a long record of collaborating with other general and forensic mental health and correctional services, as well as international experts.
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Our research
We engage in a broad range of clinical, epidemiological and experimental research within seven key research streams.
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Our study options
We offer postgraduate research and clinical qualifications, online graduate degrees and single unit enrolments.
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Our professional development and training
Our programs are designed to enhance the knowledge and skills of professionals working in health, social and criminal justice services, including courts, policing, correctional justice and forensic mental health.
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Our consulting services
We provide consultation, evaluation and primary research services across correctional and health settings.
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Our publications and products
Read our publications and reports or explore our products for forensic mental health professionals, including manuals available for purchase.
6th Australasian Youth Justice Conference
Better outcomes. Wherever you are. Whoever you are.
Join the 6th Australasian Youth Justice Conference to explore community-driven, place-based solutions that create equitable and inclusive outcomes for young people across metropolitan, regional and remote communities. This three-day event brings together leaders, practitioners, researchers and lived-experience voices to share leading practice through culture, connection and evidence-informed approaches.
The conference will be held at the National Wine Centre of Australia, Adelaide. SA.
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Safer Futures Fund
We prepare graduates for leadership roles across government, non-government, academia and clinical practice—building a pipeline of skilled experts to lead vital work.
With your support, we can build a pipeline of future leaders creating safer, more humane and effective justice systems through scholarships and gifts.
Our objectives and strategies
Strategic Plan 2023–2028
What is forensic behavioural science?
Forensic behavioural science concerns the study of the relationship between human behaviour and offending, including:
- understanding how criminal behaviour is produced and what might be done to prevent such behaviour
- informing practice in the field of forensic mental health
- assisting professionals responsible for the assessment and treatment of the mentally disordered whose behaviour has led, or could lead, to offending
- influencing the way that law enforcement, courts and criminal justice systems identify and manage offenders.
Get updates directly from us
To receive regular updates from the Centre for Forensic Behavioural Science, please sign up to our mailing list.
Explore our events
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CFBS Seminar Series - Psychopathy in Forensic Practice: Past Promises, Present Problems, and Future Challenges
Research- Research Impact
- Engagement
- Health
- Psychology
Join us for this CFBS online seminar to hear Dr Rasmus Rosenberg Larsen discuss scientific evidence from psychopathy research and argue that many of the central claims typically made about psychopathy rest on remarkably weak evidential foundations.
Register now (CFBS Seminar Series - Psychopathy in Forensic Practice: Past Promises, Present Problems, and Future Challenges) -
6th Australasian Youth Justice Conference. Better outcomes. Wherever you are. Whoever you are.
Research- Research Impact
- Engagement
- Indigenous
- Health
In collaboration with Department of Human Services SA, the Australasian Youth Justice Administrators (AYJA) will partner with the Centre for Forensic Behavioural Science to deliver the 6th Australasian Youth Justice Conference: Better outcomes. Wherever you are. Whoever you are.
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CFBS Seminar Series - Dimensional Models of Personality Disorder: Utility in Forensic Contexts
- Research Impact
- Engagement
- Health
- Psychology
Join us for this CFBS Seminar series to hear Professor Martin Sellbom speak on conceptual issues surrounding dimensional diagnosis of personality disorder.
Register now (CFBS Seminar Series - Dimensional Models of Personality Disorder: Utility in Forensic Contexts) -
CFBS Seminar Series - Detecting and preventing the live streaming of child sexual abuse
Research- Research Impact
- Engagement
- Health
- Psychology
Tim Cubitt, Associate Professor of Criminology at Adelaide University, will outline the key challenges in detecting and preventing the live streaming of child sexual abuse and proposes a pathway forward using quantitative financial modelling and criminal histories to develop new approaches to detection and prevention.
Register now (CFBS Seminar Series - Detecting and preventing the live streaming of child sexual abuse) -
CFBS Seminar Series - Re-designing New Zealand Police’s Risk Assessment Instruments for Family Violence
Research- Research Impact
- Engagement
- Health
- Psychology
Join us for this online CFBS seminar to hear from Dr Apriel D. Jolliffe Simpson, Lecturer at Te Puna Haumaru the Centre for Security and Crime Science, Te Kura Whatu Oho Mauri the School of Psychological and Social Sciences at the University of Waikato.
Dr Jolliffe Simpson will discuss re-designing New Zealand Police’s Risk Assessment Instruments for Family Violence
Register now (CFBS Seminar Series - Re-designing New Zealand Police’s Risk Assessment Instruments for Family Violence) -
CFBS Seminar series- Improving court outcomes for people with cognitive impairment
Research- Research Impact
- Health
- Law
- Psychology
Join us for this online talk with NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research researchers Steward Boiteux and Malindi Sayle.
Register now (CFBS Seminar series- Improving court outcomes for people with cognitive impairment)
Explore other research centres
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Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing
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Centre for Design Innovation
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Centre for Forensic Behavioural Science
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Centre for Mental Health and Brain Sciences
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Centre for Quantum Science and Technology Theory
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Centre for Social Impact Swinburne
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Centre for Sustainable Infrastructure and Digital Construction
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Centre for Transformative Media Technologies
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Optical Sciences Centre
Contact the Centre for Forensic Behavioural Science
There are many ways to engage with us. Whether you’re a student, from the media or an organisation interested in our professional development and training programs or consulting services, contact us on +61 3 9214 6222 or via cfbs@swinburne.edu.au.
Connect with Swinburne
We respectfully acknowledge the Wurundjeri People, and their Elders past and present, who are the Traditional Owners of the land on which Swinburne's Australian campuses are located in Melbourne's east and outer-east. Full Indigenous Matters Policy